Schleissheim Palaces

Bucket list destination of the week:  The Shleissheim Palace complex.  Friday's are a tough one for doing much exploring because our kids get out of school early, like right after lunch early.  Wherever we choose to go has to be nearby and we have to be able to fit it all in within a short amount of time.  While I was looking up things to do in Munich I found that Shleissheim fit the bill perfectly.  It is only 14 km away (about 9 miles) and with no guided tours we could wander the Old, New and Lustheim Palaces and gardens at our own pace making sure we were back in time for pickup.  

We set off in two cars and, with only a small snafu in the navigation system, we were at the New Palace doors as soon as they opened at 9 am.  As I mentioned, the tour was self-guided so we leisurely wandered from spectacular room to even more spectacular room as we chatted and caught up on each other's lives.  I'm not sure we retained much information about what we were seeing, but the company was so incredible that it almost seemed beside the point.  Plus, if I have to be really honest, once you have seen about a bajillion palaces/churches/castles it starts to all run together anyway.

 A group photo in front of the New Palace.

Impressive from the very moment you walk in and look up at the grand staircase, the New Palace was constructed in 1701 after the military defeat of Max Emanuel, the now not so popular King.  The Baroque Palace, which had been intended to be a four-winged complex that enclosed the Old Palace, the hunting lodge of Lustheim, a canal system, and the gardens, was downsized to a single building shell.  But no matter, it is still considered one of the most impressive Baroque palaces in Europe and the gardens are some of the most important.  

The grand entryway and staircase.

The ceilings were painted by Jacopo Amigoni in 1722 and are still the originals (save a very minor touchup).

Back outside and another selfie in front of the Old Palace...which didn't have much to take photos of inside so we walked the length of the gardens and canal.

The fountains were going off as we were walking by!  This is the back of the New Palace building.

And creating rainbows!

The original Lustheim hunting lodge is all the way at the end of the canal and currently houses the porcelain of the 1700's.

And this cute mouse orchestra.

It was getting late and we still needed lunch so back through the gardens we walked.

And drove the short way back to school where we grabbed a quick lunch and made plans for our next adventure.

Playing in the Bavarian Alps

Last Saturday Morning.  We woke up and drove south for about an hour (well, it should have been just over an hour but it seems everyone had the same idea so it took us a bit longer).  We parked, met up with our friends and took the ski lift to the top of the Alps.

 Longest ski lift ride ever - and I have been on a few ski lifts in my lifetime!

 First, we had to check out the view and the band and grab something to eat as we were heading up into the woods for a hike.

Oh, and we let the little kids play for a while too.

We saw a lot of great things on our hike and were constantly wowed by the views...

MadHatter could stand inside this tree and Stinkerbell is sitting on a log stump shaped like a chair.

 Yep, real mushroom.  Yep, really poisonous.

 More fun things that we saw on the way!  The kids wanted to take a picture of all of the wildflowers to make an album later, so we did.

 And then it was time for the best part, the Alpine Slide down to the bottom.  We figured out why our lift ride up was so long - because we would be taking the World's longest Alpine Slide back down.  It has 73 curves, 9 jumps, and 7 waves and takes you back down at about 20 kph (25 mph).  

 Super FUN!  And had we known, we might have gotten tickets to go again.  But it was nearing dinner time and we needed to get checked into the hotel and grab some dinner.  Which was easier said than done; the grabbing dinner part at least.  Everything was FULL.  We did run into this in town...

 Yes, that is a vending machine that sells meat, potato salad and coleslaw.  Fairly convenient, but we had nowhere to cook it anyway so we still had to find a place that could serve us cooked food.  We finally found one (though it took a lot of searching).  Satisfied, we made our way back to the hotel, tired from all of the fresh air and ready for tomorrow's adventures.

Breck Check-In III

Our final full week in Breck.  We tried to squeeze it all in but really just couldn't.  Just means we will have to be back again soon.  As for now, we are off to cruise Alaska with the family.  See you in about 2 weeks...or more...

 Another hike.  This time through the backyard path.  We had to first learn what to do if we encountered a moose.

We also encountered a mermaid at the pool...

And some sneakily hidden grasshoppers.

A solo hike to admire the beauty around me...

Tea at a Victorian House from the 1800's.

 Hummingbird spotting in the gorgeous wildflowers!

 My Rapunzel's needed haircuts...

 We had to turn back from a playdate with our German friends because of this storm which resulted in a mudslide and a tornado...

 We "split" the Continental Divide :)

And on our final day, we finally met up with our friends from Germany for a quick breakfast before saying our final see you later's...It was a great way to end our summer trip to Breck!

Keeping cool...

 Our final full day in Dubrovnik saw us actually staying in and touring the great city itself.  But you know by now that I had something up my sleeve because rarely do we spend a whole day touring without throwing in something for the kids (big or little).  This time I had booked a kayaking tour that would take us around the "cursed" island, allow us to swim and snorkel in a hidden swimming hole and give us a whole new perspective on those walls that surround the city.  It would also give us a much-needed break from the unrelenting sun and the droves of tourists that enter the city in the late morning making it almost impossible to even walk.  (Tip: if you are in the city during high season, which we were not, get outside of the walls between the hours of 9 and 4.  This is when the cruise ships are docked and release all of their passengers.  Do a day trip, kayak on the water, go anywhere but do yourself a favor and get out.  There is no place for those thousands to go but the small city center and you can hardly move).

We had grabbed a quick lunch after our early morning tour (next post) and were sunblocked, swimsuited and raring to go.  Since they were two-person kayak's, we had to pair up, agreeing to switch at the halfway point when we stopped to swim.  It was decided that I would take Stinkerbell to start since I was fresh and strong still and since she wouldn't even have her own paddle, I was going to have to paddle for two. 

We were put in the sea with the others and set off on our 3-hour tour.  And I pretty quickly realized that this was not going to be a leisurely kayak.  A double kayak is heavy.  Stinkerbell is extra weight. The sea was not calm because of all of the boaters and jet skiers.  And I was going to have to paddle without stopping if I were even going to have a chance of keeping up.  Not to say B had it much more comfortable since MadHatter would stop paddling for long stretches just because.  But even though it was hard work, the views were incredible, and the times we stopped to listen to the history of the island, the caves and the coves let me recover enough to keep going.  And going.  And going. 

 Heading out through the bay.

 Ready to go!

 One of the stopping points around the island.  I really enjoyed the rests!

 B and MadHatter just hanging out.

 Inside the cave.  I was too far back to hear the story, but it was pretty...

 On the left is a hotel that was just bought by a Russian millionaire.  He is going to put up the first 7-star hotel in Europe on it.  Which is funny because there is no such thing as more than 5 stars here...The picture on the left is a house they used for episodes of Game of Thrones.  As I am not a watcher, I could only tell you it is in the season 4 finale.

 We finally made our swimming hole and took a half hour break to snorkel, swim and watch the crazy local boys dive off the rocks (see video below).

The water in the cove is much warmer than in the open sea and extremely salty. Hence it's nickname of the Little Dead Sea.  It was a much-needed break for my arms (and strangely, my legs)...

 Back in our boats again!  Why am I still in a boat with Stinkerbell you ask?  Why did we not switch places and give B a chance to experience the fun me a rest?  He offered.  More than once.  But I figured I had made it this far, I was going to do the whole thing.  I could see where we came from and thought it couldn't be that far.  Can anyone see where this is going???  Yep, it was a LOT farther than it looked.  And since we hit the open channel, and our guide told us that we needed to sprint for about 500 m to get through or we would go back or get run over, we needed to work twice as fast.  But I was already paddling twice as fast as the others just to keep up.  How can you sprint when you are already sprinting???  Let's just say I slept well that night and was reminded of our kayak every time I moved for the next few days.  

But in other news, this is how Stinkerbell enjoyed the trip back to land...

We made it back and even though we were the last ones in, we had such a great time.  Our guide helped us pull our boats out of the water, store our paddles and then broke the news that we had each kayaked over 5 miles!!!  It was indeed time for a drink, we earned it.